The littlest kids and the big yellow bus

A story I wrote last week sparked a string of heated, indignant e-mails on both sides of the issue, and even some spirited debate at a dinner party I attended Monday night.

The story highlighted a situation during the first week of school in the Northside Independent School District, where a bus dropped off a pre-k student — a 4-year-old girl — earlier than the set drop-off time. The bus left with the child standing on the street corner.

The mother says she was on her way to the stop at least 10-15 minutes early. The district said the bus was no more than a few minutes early, but either way the driver should’ve stayed until the set drop-off time, according to the district spokesman.

An older child took the little girl into the office of an apartment complex, where her mother found her, but the situation highlighted a problem with not having a written policy to deal with pre-kindergarten and kindergarten children when it comes to dropping them off.

While most San Antonio districts follow the procedure of taking the children back to their home school after finishing their route if there is no one there to meet them at the bus stop, only one — North East — has a written policy to that effect. Northside now says their drivers will follow that procedure of taking the child back to the home school.

Most of the e-mail I received was from people who thought there should be written policies addressing the issue.

This came from an attorney in Laredo:

“Texas Penal Code §22.041. Abandoning Or Endangering Child

(a) “Abandon” means to leave a child in any place without providing reasonable and necessary care for the child, under circumstances under which no reasonable, similarly situated adult would leave a child of that age and ability.

(b) A person commits a felony offense if, having custody, care, or control of a child younger than 15 years, he intentionally abandons the child in any place under circumstances that expose the child to an unreasonable risk of harm.

An offense under subsection (b) is:

(1) a state jail felony if the actor abandoned the child with intent to return for the child;

(2) a felony of the third degree if the actor abandoned the child without intent to return for the child;

(3) a felony of the second degree if the actor abandons the child under circumstances that a reasonable person would believe would place the child in imminent danger of death, bodily injury, or physical or mental impairment.

“Maybe they should educate the bus drivers first about the Texas Penal Code, and then about school district policy.

“Even if there were no danger of getting run over, which is under number 3, it would still be a felony 3, punishable by up to ten years to serve. It is a felony. What the bus driver did is a felony, even though the girl was not hurt.”

On the other side, a woman from San Antonio wrote this:

“I am appalled, infuriated and disappointed. So Mrs. Ayala says she was on her way to the bus stop — “ten minutes early” — to pick up her daughter. This does not shift the burden of responsibility to the bus driver or the school. My blood boils to think that “mom” says “I was on my way” — clearly the message she is sending is “it’s not my fault!” — so typical of irresponsible parents. I don’t care about the fact that Mrs. Ayala says she was “10 minutes early” … the point is SHE WAS NOT THERE! Mrs. Ayala — AND MR. AYALA — should be charged with child abandonment. Mrs. Ayala — it IS! your fault. You’re “the mom”.”

Yikes! As the mother of a 5-year-old, I have to say that this story hit close to home. I think it’s reasonable to expect school districts to have a written policy to deal with such situations when you’re talking about 4- and 5-year-olds. Common sense tells us children that young should not be left alone, particularly on a street corner blocks from home.

Yes, parents are ultimately responsible for their kids, but there should be a designated time at which the children are to be dropped off and parents shouldn’t have to be there 30 minutes early, just in case. That’s unreasonable.

Also, what about extenuating circumstances? What if a parent is in a car accident, or encounters some other emergency that keeps them from making it on time. Is it then OK for a child to be left alone? Even if the parent is just plain late, or negligent and doesn’t show, do you still leave a 4-year-old vulnerable because of a parent’s mistake?

If a parent shows they can’t show up to the bus stop on time more than once, I think the district is completely within its rights to tell the parent they can’t provide transportation for that child. But in the meantime, why would anyone endanger a child to teach a parent a lesson?

I spent a good deal of time with the Ayalas, both in person and on the phone, and they struck me as caring, responsible parents who only want the best for their child. So I was a little caught off guard by the e-mailers who said they were at fault. It makes me wonder what the feedback would’ve been had the family in question been Anglo and in a more affluent neighborhood.

I hope the story sparks a meaningful discussion, not a blame game, and school boards get involved and develop policies to best deal with this issue, and most importantly, help keep children safe.

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One Response

Is it alright to ask a student while questioning them, if they are sexually active , if they have had sex before. What is this? And all your given are excuses that they are new and that they are an intern.Is this the kind of person we want in are district around are children? I would like to know what the views are to this topic. Do you think this indivual abused her power and authority as an Admistrator? I certainly think so. There is privacy laws , involving children and I think this person overstepped there boundaries, regarding inappropiate questions like these…….